St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1887-09-17
BULL VERSUS GRIZZLY,
A Terrific Battle for Whose End
the Vultures Waited.


belonged to the engineer corp
that surveyed the route for the North
ern Pacific railroad" said Amos r N
Smith. now of jersey City. land on,
day. while seeking little recreation,
was q witness Of a scene in wild West
ern life which have no doubt there ar,
plenty of people would travel far to sex
II it could only be reproduced. bu
which 1 wouldn't be a spectator o.
again for . good many round golt
dollars.
Il left our camp at Young Mems
Buttes one day in July to try my luck
at trout fishing in the head waters Of
Big Heart river. q small stream five
miles from camp. The weather had
been hot and dry for some time. and
when got over to the river found the
head waters were not much better than
dry land. all the moisture could find
being little puddles here and there in
the bed. The only water likely to b
found in that quarter with fish in il
was the Big Cannon Ball river, and
that was twenty miles away, so !
concluded that the best thing for me
to do would be to march right back
to camp. There was . heavy
thickct along the north bank Of the
stream, some distance above where /
came out on the dry bed. and . few
cottonwood trees standing may be q
hundred yards back from the bank. As
turned to retrace my steps l saw .
small herd Of wild cattle standing of
to my right. Among them was young
bull. and more splendid specimen Of
an animal I never saw. He and the
rest of the cattle were ewing me with
suspicious curiosity. l didn't like the
appearance of the bull. for he had .
way of lowering his head throwing
dirt with his fore feet, and uttering an
ominous sort Of below that seemed
threatening. turned and walked
away, moving toward the cottonwood
trees. l Hooked back over my shoulder
and saw the bull coming along after
me. increased my speed. and so did
he. until | was running my fastest and
the bull was doing his best behind me.
I can't say exactly how it was done.
but it wasn't many seconds before
found myself in one of those cotton
wood trees. out Of reach of the bull.
who was Immediately under the tree,
paving dirt and acting very mad. l
shall always believe that was hoisted
into that tree by the bull. although /
had no evidence to show for it.
"The bull paved and grumbled in
under the tree for . few minutes, and
then turned and walked toward the
thicket. on the creek side Of which
there was water hole. The other cat
tie went quietly to grazing where l had
6rst seen them.
Il suppose the bull started toward the
thicket to get drink at the water hole.
but he never got the drink. I saw him
push his way into the thicket and the
next instant could see that he had got
into trouble of some kind. and that
trouble proved to be grizzly bear. A
fierce struggle followed in the thicket
The tops OF the bushes swayed to and
mo. and could hear the heavy crash Of
driftwood as the two powerful animals
writhed in fierce embrace. A cloud of
dust rolled up from the spot. ltwss not
distant over one hundred yards from
the tree in which I had taken refuge.
Scarcely two minutes elapsed before
the bull broke through the bushes. His
head was covered with blood, and great
Makes OF flesh hung from his fore shoul-
ders But instead Of showing anv
signs Of defeat he seemed literally to
glow with defiant rage. Instinct hsd
simply prompted him in his retreat to
seek an open space. He was 1.-THE and
wiry. yet wonderfully massive about
the shoulders. combining the rare.t
qualities Of strength and symmetrv
For moment he stood glarin9 at the
bushes he had retrcated from, his nos
trils dis:ended. and his whole form
fixed and rigid But scarcely had d
time to note all this when the hear. .
huge. rePulsive-looking brute. broke
through the opening. He was the most
formidable specimen Of his kind had
ever seen. and my sympathies were at
once with the bull. in spite Of bis bel
hgerent attitude toward me few min
utes before. but had my serious doubts
about the final result of the combat
that began At once.
'In&s combat Was Q trial Of hrute